Would you like DRM with that?

I'm depressed. I mean, we all had a good time making fun of
EA during their disastrous launch of the eagerly-anticipated
SimCity. But now the dust has settled, guess what's the
top-selling video game at Amazon.com - in spite of nearly two
thousand (85%) 1-star reviews. Yeah. I guess they'll be wiping
the egg off their face all the way to the bank. If you're one of
the dozens of gamers unreservedly loving the new SimCity, EA is
happy for you. If you're among the rest, EA is happy to have
your money, and still trying to convince you that the game they
made is the game you actually wanted. To that end, overnight,
they have decided that DRM is not good, so they don't use it.
Norman, collate!

Here's some straight talk about the real purpose of DRM, in
case you were unclear. (Hint: when you press play, would you
like to watch that movie you paid for? Are you sure you wouldn't
like to sit through five minutes of unskippable advertising
first?)

Ordure in the court

I have two new heroes. I found them in a place I never
expected: at work in the realm of law and lawyering.

It would be a sad week that went by without any news from our
favorite law partners. You'll recall that Judge Otis Wright -
one of my aforementioned new heroes - invited the Prenda Law
team for an informal meet-and-greet in his courtroom. Key
players Paul Hansmeier, Paul Duffy, and John Steele did not
appear - sleeping off a SimCity all-nighter I guess - but they
sent attorneys to appear for them. Also invited to the shindig
was Peter Hansmeier, brother of Paul. Like his brother, Peter
was a no-show, but didn't even send a lawyer to collect his
party favors. Nobody can figure out why, as long as he was
hiring lawyers and stuff, one brother didn't help the other out.
But someone found Peter's note to the judge asking to be
excused, claiming on company letterhead to have no connection
with the company. So we now have a new catch-phrase for anyone
attempting to weasel out of something unpleasant: "Hey, don't
look at me -- I live in Minnesota!"

Orin Kerr is my other new hero. We saw him last week
answering questions in a House Judiciary Committee hearing. When
it was suggested that we should allow malware that attacks a
remote user of a computer, so long as that user is a hacker,
Kerr patiently explained that "you don't know who the hacker
is." He knew what he was talking about, and he seemed like a
genuinely nice guy the whole time. This is someone I would want
on my side, speaking in my defense, and now here he is, taking
on the defense of a guy who by most accounts isn't so nice, but
is being sent to jail for the equivalent of copying numbers out
of a telephone directory. I think this is an extremely important
case, and Kerr makes all the right arguments.

I can't say this post was fun to read, but the subject is
important. It's an analysis of a proposed reform to the CFAA.
This law really needs reform, but this proposal is like solving
the problem of squirrels in the attic by releasing a bunch of
pit bulls. There are links to more analysis, and you should read
as much of it as you can take. It's all very depressing, so when
you've had enough, move on to the item below. It will lift your
spirits, I promise.

A sweet, bracing shot of 80-proof WTF. I could waste a couple
hours trying to come up with a new joke on the subject, but I'm
pretty sure they've all been made already. Suffice it to say,
this story fills the void in your life you probably didn't even
know was there.

Copyright: like getting free money for doing nothing

Google helps readers find stuff online that's worth reading.
Therefore, Google should give money to the publishers of said
stuff. At least that's how it works in France and Belgium. You
might
be tempted to argue that Google provides a useful service for
free, and the publishers should be gracious if not grateful, but
that would make you a dirty freetard. Now Portugal publishers
want in on that sweetheart deal. I don't think anyone saw this
coming, right?

Here are two stories that take place on Kickstarter which
illustrate the power of copyright to stifle creativity and to stop
cool things from happening, just because somebody feels like it.
The first story is an obvious case of fair use. But you can't
prove that your use is protected by the fair use doctrine unless
you go to court. Going to court is super-expensive,
time-consuming, and in the meantime, good luck finding
distribution for your film. That story has a happy ending: the
Kickstarter project has met its goal.

The second story is about a nerdy, misfit kid who lived under
the stairs, discovered he was a Wizard and became super-powerful
and rich, but then he joined forces with a snake-tongued dark
lord, and now he bullies people who try to use common magic
words that he thinks should belong only to him.

Fun with the legislative branch

NASCAR drivers wear the logos of their corporate sponsors on
their driving suits. It brings an element of pageantry to what
would otherwise be a dull affair of a dozen guys simply driving
fast cars around and around in a circle for four hours while
seventy thousand other people sit and watch. Someone has started
a White House petition requesting that members of congress be
required to wear the logos of their corporate sponsors.
Obviously this will never happen, and if the White House even
responds I'll be amazed, but reading the story put a smile on my
face.

This one is kind of cute. Senator Orrin Hatch wants to create
a new Ambassador who will travel the globe spreading the Good
News of strong intellectual property laws. It's awfully nice to
see a senator use his power to help the underdog for a change.

I think they are going to far in trying to prevent the weapons policy permanently from being enforced. I think claiming vagueness is overstating the case. It doesn't really seem vague to me. Unless there's something we're not being told, the pen, even by virtue of its buzzing nature, doesn't seem to come within the policy.

Dude, just no. Better to take the button away entirely. Reporting is for spam and abuse. Despite that it is abused daily in knee-jerk fashion, it should be available freely for legitimate use, or not at all.

Tim, this is a great piece, but either you completely missed the fact that she is parodying the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, or you felt acknowledging her joke to be beneath you. I think it's worth consideration. The Twelve Steps are for people who have lost control of their lives due to addiction. She is equating privacy with addiction. As if somehow reliance on privacy makes people weak, dysfunctional, out of control. It's a hopelessly muddled metaphor that starts off with a false note and gets more false with each "step".

The estate's argument is bad faith through and through. If they truly cared about "multiple personalities of Sherlock Holmes" they would not have allowed the movie aberrations featuring Robert Downey Jr., nor the splendid modern adaptation Sherlock. To say nothing of the "Young Sherlock Holmes" alternate-universe weirdness.

When it's an issue of public good like food stamps or health care or planned parenthood, the government is completely incompetent and worse than the Soviet Union under Stalin. But when it's an issue of keeping the populace in line through surveillance and draconian control of information, why then the government is the only thing standing between us and The Terrorists, the only thing keeping us from total collapse into anarchy.